If you are planning to start a home-based business soon, you may find yourself overwhelm with great amount of preparation works and planning. Below is a checklist that might be of help to get you organize, focus and avoid missing critical areas during the startup.

1. Be Mentally Prepared
Starting a business is not easy; starting a home-based business is even more challenging because you are going to face all the risks, difficulties and responsibilities alone. You might be wearing many hats at the same time hence working long hours will be a norm and it can be mentally and physically straining. Be prepared to sacrifice your leisure, holidays and even money during the start up as your business will need time and patience to see result. Also be prepared to bounce back fast when you encounter failures and obstacles. Don’t forget to check with your family, are they willing to accept you working full-time at home as home-based business is still a new concept to many. If you are not mentally prepared for all these, starting a home-based business could be a very painful process for you.

2. Select a Business Type
If you are determined to go ahead then decide what type of business you plan to start in terms of your skills, interest, knowledge and experience. You can click here to check out the list of ideas for home-based business. Select a business that you love and passionate about so you will enjoy your business everyday.

3. Understand your Industry
Research your target customers, competitors and market, if the competition is tough, it will be good to find a niche market so that your business has a higher chance of success. Think of the product or services you are offering that can be different from your competitors and what kind of added values you can bring to your customers.

4. Business Plan
Prepare a business plan as it will be the blueprint to lead you from where you are now to where you want to be. The business plan must also include the strategy and tactics to achieve the objective. Click here to view a sample of good business plan.

5. Naming your Home-based Business
Once you’ve decided on the type of business, think of a good name for your business. It should be easy to pronounce and remember. If your target customers are located globally, you may like to check whether the proposed name has been taken and does it has other meaning. Because a same name with the same spelling could mean different things in different countries and cultures.

It is also wise to research on the web first before registering your business name especially if your business name is also your domain name. For example since eHomepreneur.com is also my domain name, I would need to check its availability before registering it. This is crucial because if the domain name is taken, then you would need to think of another name otherwise your company name does not tally with domain name which could cause confusion to your customers. You can check domain availability with your web hosting company or go to networksolutions.com directly to check online.

6. Legal
Before you apply a business license for your home-based business, decide its business structure, will it be a sole entrepreneur, partnership, limited partnership or private limited? If you don’t understand the difference, click here for definitions. Also check whether you need to apply any license for using your home as a business office and any regulations to comply with.

7. Obtain a Business License
Obtain a business license from your city and country permit and check is there any permit you need to apply such as fire, sign and seller permit.

8. Financial Issues
Once you have obtained the business license, you can use it to apply for a business bank account and get a check book. Prepare a financial plan for at least 12 months; determine your startup capital, projected earning, budget and operating costs.

9. Accounting, Record Keeping and Tax Advice
It is advisable to get a professional accountant to establish an accounting system for your revenue and expenses recording before you start your business. A proper accounting system will save you a lot of errors and headaches during your billing and annual income tax filing. In addition, the accountant should be able to advise the most tax-effective business structure and what expenses you can claim.

10. Is your home suitable for Home-based Business?
Check your home whether there is extra room or a corner suitable for running a home-based business? Do you have the necessary facilities, equipments and stationery? Make sure it is well ventilated, lighted and protected so that important information will not be destroyed accidentally.

Also check will your business affect your family or neighbors such as any noise created or any privacy or security issues? Is there any adequate parking area for your customers?

11. Government Grants and Assistance
There are always government financial grants and assistance readily available for startup business. Find out from your local council on how to apply for these grants and thus help to cut down your startup costs.

12. Advertising and Marketing
Advertising and marketing are important as you need to create awareness and publicity for your home-based business. To start marketing your business, you will need to create business identity such as logo, business card, letterhead, envelope and website or blog to differentiate your business from your competitors. Increase your business visibility by exploring different media.

13. Hire Help for your Home-based Business
It could be overwhelming if you are going to run the whole business by yourself, hire extra help if you need to, after all, nobody is good at everything. Some works like accounting, graphic design, advertising and marketing can be outsourced to vendors or freelancers so that you could focus on your core activities.

14. Time Management & Self Discipline
Time management is even more critical when working at home as there are a lot of distractions. It calls for stringent self discipline to plan and manage your time well. Having a work schedule will help you to stay on track and committed to your daily activities.

In addition to the above, you may like to check out this article from BusinessWings, it highlights the A to Z things you would need to consider for a startup business.

Related posts:

1. How to Start a Home-Based Business for Stay-at-home Mum?

RSS & Email Subscription

Hi, if this is your first time here, you are welcome to subscribe to our RSS Feed or Feedburner Email. Click on the icons below to start now, once subscribed, you will not miss out any latest post.

       

Thank you for susbcribing and stay in touch.